{"id":1187,"date":"2026-09-18T13:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2026-09-18T13:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:07:49","slug":"comment-section-forensics-everyones-an-expert-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/2026\/09\/18\/comment-section-forensics-everyones-an-expert-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Comment Section Forensics: Everyone\u2019s an Expert Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Comment Section Forensics: Everyone\u2019s an Expert Now<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Paris Long<\/strong>\n \n September 18, 2026<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n \n Share\n <\/span>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Copy Link<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Facebook<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n\n<\/svg>\n\n <\/span>\n X<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n LinkedIn<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Bluesky<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Email<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n \n
\n\n \n

Scroll through the comments on any viral court case and you\u2019ll find a surprising number of
\ncredentials. Someone is a \u201cformer paralegal\u201d who just knows the defendant is lying. Someone
\nelse \u201cstudied psychology\u201d and can tell from a single blink that this is a textbook narcissist. A
\nthird person doesn\u2019t cite any expertise at all, they just watched the interrogation video eleven
\ntimes, so at this point, they basically are an expert.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a fringe phenomenon anymore. During Lindsay Clancy\u2019s 2026 murder trial, self
\ndescribed armchair lawyers, forensic analysts, psychiatrics, and medical professionals flooded
\nsocial media with theories about the case, not all of it grounded in fact. Media researcher
\nKathryn Coduto, who studies true crime, said the case has effectively become a fandom, with
\nviewers drawn to it the way they\u2019d be drawn to a show with compelling characters, and noted
\nthat once people committed to downloading the story, the platform\u2019s algorithm noticed and kept
\nfeeding it to them.<\/p>\n

Three children had died. Commenters were treating it like a new season premiere.<\/p>\n

Body language reads the same way. In courtroom footage, defendants get analyzed like tea
\nleaves. A smile means guilt, a blank face means guilt, too much emotions means guilt too.
\nWhen accused Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson appeared in court, a self described body
\nlanguage expert flagged that Robinson smiling briefly while talking to his lawyers \u201cwasn\u2019t a good
\nlook\u201d for someone facing murder charges, and separately noted that the way Robinson and his
\nattorneys didn\u2019t lean toward each other suggests they weren\u2019t close. Whatever the defendant
\ndoes, becomes evidence for whatever people already believe.<\/p>\n

The trouble is that \u201cbody language expert\u201d isn’t a credential with much behind it. Researchers
\nVincent Denault and Mirera Zloteanu, writing in Evolutionary Human Sciences, argue that
\nself-styled body language experts on social media promote unfounded, discredited claims about
\nreading nonverbal behavior, and that the public is fed this “analysis” of criminal defendants
\ninstead of anything empirically supported. And by calling themselves body language experts,
\nthe field sounds more scientific than it really is.<\/p>\n

None of this is really about facts. It is about performance. Confidently declaring \u201cthe eyes don’t
\nlie\u201d gets replies and validation. Saying \u201cI genuinely don\u2019t know\u201d gets nothing. Why use credited
\nsources, when you can sound like the expert yourself?<\/p>\n

Real behavioral analysis is slow, technical, and hedged constantly. It does not perform well in
\nthe comment section. So when a case blows up online, what\u2019s often on display isn\u2019t collective
\ninsight, its collective performance, dressed up as expertise. It doesn\u2019t need to be right. It just
\nneeds to sound sure.<\/p>\n

But if everyone online sounds certain, does anyone actually know anything?<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Burton, Taylor. “Rise of the Armchair Detective: The Impact of Social Media on Court Cases.”
\nPennsylvania Bar Institute, 24 Sept. 2025,
\nwww.pbi.org\/blog\/rise-of-the-armchair-detective-the-impact-of-social-media-on-court-cases\/.<\/p>\n

Denault, Vincent, and Mircea Zloteanu. “Darwin’s Illegitimate Children: How Body Language
\nExperts Undermine Darwin’s Legacy.” Evolutionary Human Sciences, vol. 4, 2022,
\ndoi.org\/10.1017\/ehs.2022.50 .<\/p>\n

“Body Language Expert Analyzes Tyler Robinson During First In-Person Court Appearance.”
\nKUTV, https:\/\/kutv.com\/news\/local\/body-language-expert-analyzes-tyler-robinson-during-first-in-person-
\ncourt-appearance.<\/p>\n

Miller, Alex, and Kathryn Coduto. “The Fierce Attention Directed at Lindsay Clancy’s Trial
\nHighlights Risks About Truth and Social Media.” Scripps News,
\ntmj4.com\/us-news\/crime\/the-fierce-attention-directed-at-lindsay-clancys-trial-highlights-risks-abo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1036,"featured_media":1140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editor-blogs","category-public-opinion-and-law"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nComment Section Forensics: Everyone\u2019s an Expert Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/2026\/09\/18\/comment-section-forensics-everyones-an-expert-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment Section Forensics: Everyone\u2019s an Expert Now - 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